Framing Day 4

Day 4. We dodged the big storm moving in from Oklahoma early this morning. Pasture is still too wet to mow, the temperature is wonderful, so I mosey on down to the house site to take some early morning snapshots. This first shot shows the crew working on the porte cochere. Everything seems normal.



{screenwriters note: cue the music at low volume....shark music from Jaws}
ah...omp.......ah...omp






The Porte-cochere: a closer look.



{Gradual increase in shark music volume}
dah...Dump..............dah...Dump








The crew is working on the roofline to connect to the porte cochere.

No eye contact, but I didn't realize that until later.



Dah...DUMP..........Dah DUMP..........Dah...DUMP





I'm happily snapping photos. See how our rear porch with the cedar posts runs all the way across the back. Hey! I knew what to do. I'll take another picture which will really show off the rear porch.


Louder Jaws theme.







See! Rear porch all the way across. OK, it's hard to see, but it's there.

Hmmm. Wait a minute.

There's no one working.
No construction noise.
No one in the picture.

Except two people: Rick - our foreman,
and the framing crew leader.
And, Rick is on the cell phone.

Jaws music at full volume
DAH...DUMP...........DAH...DUMP


Seriously folks, can you see anything wrong with this picture?

The only clue I have is that Rick and the crew leader are staring at the top of the construction.

So, I leave. Obviously there is an issue and technical consultation is underway.







A little later when the construction noise resumes, I wander back and invite Rick to lunch.
At the Fina.

Skip: So is it solved?

Rick: Yep.

Skip: Was it the roofline?

Rick: Yep.

Skip: Is it fixed?

Rick: Yep.

Skip: OK.

I have to piece a few things together, but my take is the framers realized there was an error in the roof design, and pointed it out to Rick.

Roofs are like stairs.
They look simple in theory, but in practice are very tricky. I first learned this trying to build a basic two step staircase. I sure wasted a lot of lumber on that one, and it was never quite right.


It will look beautiful!

Here's shot from our Blackberry graveyard., which is not so beautiful right now.

We planted 25.
8 remain.
Not a great ratio..

Next year we are shooting for 25 out of 25!!!
AND, air conditioning, heat in the winter, room enough in the shower to turn around without opening the shower door, hot water, (and cold water in the summer), and lots of family visitors!